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Sat, February 21, 2026 at 2:02 PM PST<\/p>\nHas Arizona seized control of the Big 12?<\/p>\n
The No. 4 Wildcats held No. 2 Houston without a field goal for over 10 minutes in the second half on the way to a 73-66 road win over the Cougars. After Chris Cenac Jr. hit a jumper with 12:57 to go, the Cougars had just six free throws before Kingston Flemings hit a 3-pointer with 2:28 to go.<\/p>\n
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Flemings\u2019 shot cut Arizona\u2019s lead to 61-57, but the Wildcats got an offensive rebound on their next possession before Jaden Bradley\u2019s turnaround jumper in the lane with 1:33 to go extended the lead back to six and forced Houston to start fouling with 1:10 to go.<\/p>\n
The win pushes Arizona to 12-2 in Big 12 play and 25-2 overall while dropping Houston to 11-3 in the conference and 23-4. The Wildcats now have sole possession of first place in the conference with four games remaining.<\/p>\n
The game flipped as Houston missed 10 straight field goal attempts in the second half. Cenac put the Cougars up 48-46. But as Houston couldn\u2019t buy a basket, Arizona outscored the Cougars 15-6.<\/p>\n
Houston had a similar drought in the first half too. The Cougars went over six minutes without a field goal late in the half as Arizona built up a 10-point lead. But a strong close to the first half cut Arizona\u2019s lead to five at halftime.<\/p>\n
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The Cougars never led until there was 14:16 remaining in the game, however. And each of the three times Houston took a two-point lead, Arizona tied the game before pulling away during Houston\u2019s dry spell.<\/p>\n
Anthony Dell\u2019Orso shines again<\/p>\n
The senior tied his career high with 22 points in Arizona\u2019s win over BYU on Wednesday. He did it again on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Dell\u2019Orso started 28 of 37 games a season ago but moved to the bench this season thanks to Arizona\u2019s stellar recruiting class. He\u2019s played a key role even though he\u2019s been out of the starting lineup and has stepped up in the absence of freshman Koa Peat.<\/p>\n
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Peat missed the BYU game after he suffered a lower leg injury in Arizona\u2019s loss to Texas Tech a week ago. He also sat out Saturday\u2019s game.<\/p>\n
Dell\u2019Orso scored 14 of his 22 points in the first half as Arizona entered the break with a five-point lead. He was the only player to score more than 20.<\/p>\n
How the Big 12 race is shaping up<\/p>\n
Saturday\u2019s game became even more significant in the Big 12 race right as it tipped off. No. 8 Kansas entered the day a game behind both Arizona and Houston with matchups remaining against both schools.<\/p>\n
But the Jayhawks are now two games behind Arizona and a game behind Houston after they shockingly lost 84-68 at home to Cincinnati.<\/p>\n
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While Kansas is still in the Big 12 mix, it needs wins over both Arizona and Houston to have a chance now. And that looks much more difficult after Saturday\u2019s loss.<\/p>\n
No. 6 Iowa State, meanwhile, may be the biggest threat to Arizona if it beats AJ Dybantsa and No. 23 BYU late Saturday night. The Cyclones visit Arizona on March 2, two days after the Wildcats host Kansas.<\/p>\n
Live coverage is over28 updatesSat, February 21, 2026 at 11:28 AM PST<\/p>\n
Yahoo Sports Staff<\/p>\n
Sat, February 21, 2026 at 2:39 PM PST<\/p>\n
Yahoo Sports Staff<\/p>\n
Just days after Anthony Dell’Orso dropped 22 on BYU, he did it again in a road win over No. 2 Houston.<\/p>\n
The Australian is on a heater, and the Wildcats are reaping the rewards.<\/p>\n
Sat, February 21, 2026 at 2:24 PM PST<\/p>\n
Yahoo Sports Staff<\/p>\n
There\u2019s just over a minute left and the Wildcats should win this barring a late meltdown.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re at the 1-minute mark and it\u2019s an 8-point game.<\/p>\n
Sat, February 21, 2026 at 2:19 PM PST<\/p>\n
Yahoo Sports Staff<\/p>\n
The Wildcats will have to finish this one off without their big man, who just tallied his fifth foul.<\/p>\n
Arizona is up 60-54 with just over 3 minutes left.<\/p>\n
Sat, February 21, 2026 at 2:02 PM PST<\/p>\n
Nick Bromberg<\/p>\n
The Cougars are again in a scoring drought. The Cougars\u2019 last points came over four minutes ago. There\u2019s 7:55 to go.<\/p>\n
Sat, February 21, 2026 at 1:51 PM PST<\/p>\n
Yahoo Sports Staff<\/p>\n
Arizona\u2019s backup guard has continued his torrid shooting in the second half and now has 21 points as the Wildcats retake the lead with just under 11 minutes left in the game.<\/p>\n
Sat, February 21, 2026 at 1:38 PM PST<\/p>\n
Nick Bromberg<\/p>\n
Milos Uzan hits a 3-pointer to put the Cougars ahead. Does Arizona have a response?<\/p>\n
Sat, February 21, 2026 at 1:35 PM PST<\/p>\n
Yahoo Sports Staff<\/p>\n
The Cougars are right back in this thing as the game ticks toward the 15-minute mark. It\u2019s a one-score game now.<\/p>\n
Sat, February 21, 2026 at 1:32 PM PST<\/p>\n
Nick Bromberg<\/p>\n
As the Cougars have cut the lead to three, 10 players have seen playing time. Arizona has played eight players \u2014 and will go eight-deep barring significant foul trouble \u2014 and played on the road earlier in the week.<\/p>\n
Sat, February 21, 2026 at 1:20 PM PST<\/p>\n
Yahoo Sports Staff<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s how things are shaking out across the country today:<\/p>\n
Louisville 82, Georgia Tech 66
Texas Tech 70, Kansas State 56
Arkansas 11, Mizzou 11<\/p>\n
Ranked teams that took an L today: No. 8 Kansas and No. 19 Vanderbilt.<\/p>\n
Sat, February 21, 2026 at 1:07 PM PST<\/p>\n
Nick Bromberg<\/p>\n
The game was in danger of getting away from the Cougars late in the first half. Now they\u2019re right back in it.<\/p>\n
Sat, February 21, 2026 at 1:06 PM PST<\/p>\n
Yahoo Sports Staff<\/p>\n
The Cougars were able to cut into the Wildcats\u2019 lead a bit just before the break, but they\u2019ll need to figure out a way to slow down Anthony Dell’Orso. The backup guard shredded BYU for 22 points on Wednesday and he has 14 points in the first half today.<\/p>\n
Sat, February 21, 2026 at 12:53 PM PST<\/p>\n
Nick Bromberg<\/p>\n
The Cougars are getting to the free throw line, but that\u2019s not enough to keep up with an Arizona team that has made five of its last six field goals while Houston hasn\u2019t made one in five minutes.<\/p>\n
Sat, February 21, 2026 at 12:48 PM PST<\/p>\n
Nick Bromberg<\/p>\n
The Cougars have now gone 3:29 without a field goal.<\/p>\n
Sat, February 21, 2026 at 12:47 PM PST<\/p>\n
Yahoo Sports Staff<\/p>\n
Arizona has found a little bit of breathing room with just over 5 minutes left on the clock in the first half. Awaka and Dell\u2019Orso are leading the way for the Wildcats with 7 and 9 points, respectively.<\/p>\n
Sat, February 21, 2026 at 12:31 PM PST<\/p>\n
Yahoo Sports Staff<\/p>\n
We’ve got a TV timeout with 11 minutes left in the first half and the Wildcats are still in control but the Cougars are getting open looks from deep.<\/p>\n
Arizona\u2019s Anthony Dell’Orso is picking up right where he left off against BYU with a few short-range pull-ups and the Cats are up 18-11.<\/p>\n
Sat, February 21, 2026 at 12:28 PM PST<\/p>\n
Nick Bromberg<\/p>\n
The senior scored 22 against BYU earlier this week in what was just his second 20-point game of the season.<\/p>\n
Sat, February 21, 2026 at 12:18 PM PST<\/p>\n
Yahoo Sports Staff<\/p>\n
The Wildcats are up 9-2 early after an and-one from Tobe Awaka. The Cougars are doing their best to make this an ugly game, but Arizona is winning the 50-50s early.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Has Arizona seized control of the Big 12? The No. 4 Wildcats held No. 2 Houston without a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":175278,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[14862,6550,17321,27383,9197,56,58,57,14845,305,26195,29165,3111],"class_list":{"0":"post-175277","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-aj-dybantsa","9":"tag-arizona","10":"tag-byu","11":"tag-chris-cenac-jr","12":"tag-cougars","13":"tag-houston","14":"tag-houston-headlines","15":"tag-houston-news","16":"tag-jaden-bradley","17":"tag-kansas","18":"tag-kingston-flemings","19":"tag-koa-peat","20":"tag-the-cougars"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}